Ubuntu Manpage: qarecord - an audio recording tool

Provided by: qarecord_0.5.0-0ubuntu7_amd64

NAME

       qarecord - an audio recording tool

SYNOPSIS

       qarecord [ alsa-options ] [ general-options ]
       qarecord --jack [ general-options ]
       qarecord { --help | --version }

DESCRIPTION

       qarecord  is  a simple but solid recording tool.  qarecord works well with both stereo and
       multichannel recordings, with both ALSA and JACK, and in both 16 bit and 32 bit mode.   By
       using a large ringbuffer for the captured data, buffer overruns are avoided.  qarecord has
       a Qt based GUI with graphical peak meters.

   MIDI trigger
       In addition to the buttons in the GUI, recording can be  started  and  stopped  via  MIDI.
       qarecord uses the ALSA sequencer for this purpose.

   File naming
       A  save  file  dialog  appears the first time recording is activated, or through selecting
       New... in the File menu.  If that file already exists, the old file will  be  renamed  (to
       filename.oldx.wav),  where  x is an incrementing number.  Should the file grow larger than
       the split limit, the file will be closed  and  recording  will  continue  in  a  new  file
       filename.partx.wav, where x is an incrementing number.

   Scheduling and priorities
       qarecord  has one high-priority thread that fetches data from ALSA and one normal priority
       thread that writes the data to disk.  This will work best if the user is  allowed  to  run
       realtime priority (rtprio) threads, see limits.conf(5) for more information. In JACK mode,
       the same reasoning applies, but it is handled by JACK, see jackd(1) for more information.

       A ringbuffer is used to buffer the data before it is written to disk.

OPTIONS

General options
--32bit
If specified, a 32 bit WAVE will be the output format. If not specified, a 16 bit
WAVE file will be recorded.

--buffersize bytes
The size of the ringbuffer in bytes. The default (1048576) should be sufficient for
most purposes. It must be a multiple of the frame size (channels * bytes per
channel).

--channels num
Number of channels to record. The default is 2, which means a stereo recording.

--jack If specified, qarecord works as a JACK client. If not specified, qarecord uses ALSA
for recording.

--meterrange dB
Specifies the dynamic range of the peak meters. The default value of 85 means that
the meter will show signals between -85 dB and 0 dB.

--midiChannel channel
Specifies what MIDI channel the MIDI trigger should listen to. The default is 16,
the valid range is 1..16.

--midiNote num
Specifies what MIDI notes the MIDI trigger should listen to. This note will be
used to trigger recording, the next note will trigger pause, and note+2 will
trigger stop. The default is 21, which translates to note A1 being used to record,
A#1 for pause, and B1 for stop.

--split MB
Start a new wave file every MB megabytes. Default is 2000.

ALSA specific options
--device ALSA device
The ALSA device name to use for capture. The default is plughw:0, which means the
first soundcard.

--fragments num
Number of fragments, or periods. Used with the periodsize option to determine the
hardware buffer size. The default is 2.

--periodsize frames
Number of frames between ALSA signals that new data is available. The hardware
buffer size will be periodsize * fragments. A large hardware buffer size might
decrease the risc for a buffer underrun. The default is 2048.

--rate Hz
Sample rate. The default is 44100.

Standard options
--help Print possible command-line options and exit.

--version
Print version information and exit.

NOTES

       Errors and warnings are written to stderr(3).

       Due to limitations in the WAVE file format, larger files than 4 GB cannot be recorded.

AUTHORS